Lover Envisioned (Re-writing read desc)
by Gabbrielle
Summary: Based on the black dagger brotherhood novels, re-writing the whole story though, read what I've wrote so far to see if the story's for you or not, the whole new story will be on soon so bear with me dears! All criticism welcome while I'm rewriting, would love to know how i could improve it :) Up to chapter eight right now. 02/07/13
1. Chapter 1

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_ I woke up to the shrill sound of my alarm clock telling me it was morning. I groaned and without opening my eyes, slapped the snooze button like it was a bomb about to detonate. I cursed as I tried my hardest to slip back into the dream I was just in, before the damn thing had woken me up. It was such a bizarre, yet beautiful dream, and one that I'd had every night for the past six months. I was walking alongside a river, late at night. The moon was full and the water glistened like tiny diamonds as it reflected its rays. The grass was soft and damp beneath my bare feet, and every step I took tickled. But the best thing was the man who was with me. I looked to my right. The most beautiful man I'd ever seen was walking next to me. He was looking back at me, smiling. He was tall, very tall. His coiled black hair was the kind you'd love to run your hands through while you pulled him close and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. His goatee made him look masculine but adorable at the same time. He smelled of dark spices that filled my nose like I was breathing him in. But that wasn't the best part. The best part was his exquisite diamond eyes. As he looked at me with them I felt captivated, hypnotized and safe. Even the alarming tattoo around his left eye didn't sway me. In the distance there was a tall oak tree. It was blessed with beautiful green leaves that seemed almost luminous as they hung inches from the ground. The tree swayed in the breeze as if beckoning us over to it, and we complied. Every time I had this dream, as we reached the tree he would push me against the trunk and kiss me. First, he would kiss my lips, then my neck. Every time he did that, he would look back into my eyes and open his mouth, exposing long white fangs, because he was in fact not just a normal man, he was a vampire. Then every time, I would nod my head, like I knew exactly what he wanted, and he would lower his head back to my neck and bite me, his fangs puncturing my skin. That's when I woke up. But this time was different, when we reached the tree he pushed me up to the trunk as usual, but instead of kissing me he leaned closer to my ear.

"ZeroSum" He whispered. This was the first time I'd heard his voice and _Jesus Christ!_ It was sexy! It was low, husky and seductive.

"What?" I asked after I got past the oh-my-god moment of his voice.

"ZeroSum" he said in that same low tone "Be there tonight"

"What are you-"

I moaned as my alarm went off again, reminding me I kind of had to get my ass out of bed now. I shut it off and somehow after a lot of blinking, I managed to get both of my eyes open at the same time. I sat up, maybe a bit too fast, because I fell straight back down to my pillow. Christ, I felt horrible today. After a few seconds, I sat up again, slower this time and managed to stay up. I glanced over at my messy bedside table. It was covered with about twenty packets of Banana Twinkies. That explained why I felt like hell this morning. I'd been up all night studying for my entrance exam to University and I could never study without munching on something sweet and fattening. I looked over the side of my bed, my books were on the floor, scattered everywhere. I must have fallen asleep and knocked them off. I glanced back over to my bedside table and the alarm clock that sat on there, staring me in the face, almost sneering at me. I glared back. It was 6:23am which meant I'd have just enough time for a quick shower and some breakfast before heading out to the restaurant I worked at. Somehow, I managed to haul myself out of bed and shuffle through my out-dated, low-as-hell rent apartment. I wasn't surprised the rent was so low. The wallpaper in every room was so old it was peeling off at the tops. The living room wallpaper which used to be a deep red had now faded to a pale orange. The carpet had odd coloured stains on it and they were very visible since the carpet was white, despite my numerous attempts to clean the darn thing. I didn't even want to imagine what those stains were from. The only nice things in the apartment were the stuff I'd brought in. My couches were vintage pale blue with floral pillows. The curtains matched the pillows. My clock was very modern which, in all fairness didn't match most of the other furniture I'd brought in, but I didn't care. The clock was made for me by a friend, so I'd kept it anyway. I walked into my bathroom and locked the door behind me, very unnecessary since I lived alone, but it was a habit. The bathroom, as well as the rest of the apartment, was out-dated. The wallpaper was peeling off where the heat from the shower had forced it loose from the wall. The toilet seat was half falling off – I'd have to get that fixed at some point, or better yet get a new one. Although trouble was, I'd have to ask my landlord if I could replace it, which I'd rather not. My landlord was the type of guy you stayed away from. He was a slob who'd inherited the apartment block from his father and just sat around smoking weed and only came out of his apartment to harass the other residents. If it wasn't for the cheap rent I'd be out of there in a heartbeat.

I shuffled over to the shower and switched it on. While I waited for it to get hot I slumped over the sink and gave myself a once-over in the mirror. Jesus Christ, I was a mess. My near-waist length sandy hair was tangled and looked like I'd had a hot night of rolling around in the hay with someone rather than studying. My hazel eyes had dark circles under them from the mere three and a half hours of sleep I managed to scrape together and my skin was a lot paler than usual. I looked like a real-life zombie. I turned away from my horrid reflection and checked to see if the shower was warm, which it was. I undressed and slid under the calming spray. I always loved the feel of the warm water all over me. As the hot droplets collided with my skin, I felt all the stress and tension I'd been feeling from work and studying wash away, and I started to feel a bit more relaxed. As I washed my hair and body I thought back to my dream. For the six months I'd had that dream it was the first time he'd spoken. Be at ZeroSum tonight? ZeroSum was a club downtown. It was a shady place. There were drugs, prostitutes, fighting and much worse. It was not a place I wanted to go, at all. But I couldn't help but feel like I had to be there tonight, which was nuts. It was just a dream. It was bad enough that I was dreaming of a vampire biting me, but now he wanted to me to go to some random club.

I turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around myself, still wondering what the hell the dream meant. Letting my hair drip, I went out to the living room. As I drew the curtains back from the window the sunlight poured in and illuminated the whole apartment. One of the only things I liked about my apartment was the beautiful view out my window of Caldwell, NY. I lived on the top floor, so the view was spectacular. It was autumn and the street I lived on was covered in a blanket of golden leaves, the trees they had come off were near bare. The street was a quiet one. With nothing but the occasional bike or car going past, and most of the time that was just somebody leaving or returning home. The apartment building was the only one on the street, the rest were houses, big houses. I'd found out a while ago that the apartment building used to be a house too, but the owner had made it into apartments. Made you think about how big the houses really were if they could construct a four-story apartment building out of one. Sue, a lady who lived on the same floor as me, was going down the steps of the building. She was a nurse so she also left for work early. I didn't know her that well but she seemed like a nice lady. She was also pregnant.

I took one last look around and headed back through the living room to my bedroom. I glanced at my bedside clock again, it was 6.40am now. I took the towel from around my body and started drying my hair with it while I opened my wardrobe and speculated for something to wear. After contemplating what my outfit today was going to be for a couple of minutes, I settled on a white cotton vest and some fade out stretch jeans, while I threw my hair up in a tight bun. After I was dressed I went over to my full length bedroom mirror. I looked myself over once, twice, three times and decided I looked decent enough. I went through to my kitchen and poured myself some orange juice and made some Raisin Bran. I looked around my kitchen as I ate my breakfast. It was the smallest room in the apartment. So small that if I stood in the middle and stretched my arms out I could almost reach the walls on either side. It didn't have much in it either. There was a small microwave oven, a fridge that looked out of place, one double cupboard and a sink with a tap that dripped non-stop. As I wondered how the hell I'd ended up in such a crappy apartment, I finished my breakfast and hurried over to my front door. I pulled on an old pair of sneakers, grabbed a random jacket from the coat rack and headed out into the hall.

The apartment block I lived in was your basic four-story building. There were seven apartments per floor. I lived on the top floor, along with six other residents. The landlord lived on the first floor, along with four other residents. It used to be six but an old woman that lived in one of the apartments had died not too long ago. I didn't know her well but she was a very sweet old lady. Always smiling at everybody and saying hello, even to the landlord, who didn't deserve even the slightest of kindnesses from anybody. The other apartment that was now empty had belonged to a young woman named Beth and her cat, Boo. Beth was one of the only people in the apartment building I got along with and felt comfortable around. She was funny, smart and good at pretty much everything. She was beautiful too. Every man in the apartment block had wanted her, single or not. As a friend of the Caldwell police force, there were a lot of cops after her too. One particular cop named Butch would come around on a regular basis to check up on her. I knew his name because I'd heard Beth say it before. He was huge and scary. I'd run into him on occasion on my way home from work, as he was leaving Beth's. He'd just nod at me and head out the building. Her cat was also great company. Whenever I went to her apartment Boo would fuss at my feet until I would reach down and pet him. I found myself smiling while I remembered the cute black cat and his bright yellow welcoming eyes. Then I frowned. Beth had just up and left one day about two years ago, not saying goodbye to anyone, or telling anyone where she was moving too. I rushed down two flights of stairs to the first floor and stopped as I was passing Beth's old apartment. It was weird how she had just disappeared like that without as much as a goodbye. I shook my head in confusion and headed down the last flight to the ground floor. The ground floor was freezing, as per usual. There was no wallpaper or flooring, just stone walls and floors. The room was like an ice box, any colder and it would be at freezing point. It was full of mailboxes for each apartment and a torn up couch sat in the corner of the room. Ridiculous really as nobody would ever want to sit in this mini Antarctica. Not wanting to freeze to death, I hurried out of the building and into the warm sun of the outside world.

The street was as quiet as always, with just the sound of the morning birds chirping away and the distant sound of cars on Trade Street. I kicked up the blanket of yellow and gold as I walked along the pathway. The breeze was just right. The cool rushing of the autumn wind made the trees dance in their places. The sun was just coming up, peeking over the buildings as if to see if anyone were watching it rise. I smiled. I always loved the walk to work in the mornings. It was the most refreshing thing of my whole day. I always let my mind wander while I walked. I would think about everything. Today I found myself imagining what it would be like without the sun, the world would always be dark and dreary. I found myself thinking back to my dream. It always took place at night, naturally as he was a vampire, but even so, if that dream could become reality, I would give up the sun. To have that man in my presence for just a second I wouldn't care if the sun disappeared forever. I thought back to what he had said. Why would he tell me to go to ZeroSum? I wanted to tell myself there was no way that I was going there, but I already knew I was. For whatever reason, I had to be at ZeroSum tonight, or I was missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime, and I knew just who I could take with me.

The walk to the restaurant that I worked at seemed to take much longer than usual, but then what seemed like an eternity later, I arrived outside the front of it. The restaurant was a four-star elegant little Italian place called 'The Taste of Tuscany'. It was beautiful inside and out. Intricately detailed and well thought out. The outside of the restaurant was made from smooth timber. It was painted a deep red with a gold banner along the top and the name of the restaurant written along it in black curved writing. Blue lights that lit up at night ran along the railings that surrounded the building. Different varieties of flowers were planted all around the outside of the building. They blended together almost seamless like. The inside was just as magnificent. The walls were covered with beautiful gold and red vintage wallpaper. Three gleaming vintage chandeliers hung from the ceiling, lighting up the whole dining area in an orange glow. Cherry tables and matching chairs were spiraled around the room. The tables were covered with gold and blue floral table cloths. There was an open bar at one side of the restaurant which served hot drinks and cold soft drinks throughout the morning and afternoon, and in the evening and throughout the night alcoholic drinks could also be served. I was about to head around the back to the staff entrance when the main entrance to the restaurant opened as somebody walked out. It was David, a regular at the restaurant in the mornings. The restaurant opened at 7.15am and David was there every morning before he went to work. He would buy a decaf cappuccino and a croissant. He looked up at me and smiled as he headed towards me. I smiled back

"You're early today David" I said as he stopped in front of me. He looked down at his watch, then laughed and took a bite out of his croissant. David was your typical son-of-a-big-company kind of guy. He was good looking, rich and hardworking. Women everywhere wanted him for themselves. Unfortunately for them though, David was already engaged. I'd met his fiancée once when he had brought her to the restaurant for a meal. She was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and big eyes. He'd introduced us but I didn't get time to talk to her since I was working. I was a waitress and waitresses didn't have time to chit-chat at the customer's tables. But she had seemed nice enough. David took a sip of his coffee then gave me a serious look.

"I'm not early" He said tapping his watch "You're late"

"What?" I moved closer and looked down at his watch. It was 7.45am. I was thirty minutes late! "Crap!"

I said a quick goodbye to David and left him chuckling as I ran around the restaurant and through the back entrance. I rushed down the hall past the staff lounge where I could hear my co-workers talking and into the locker room. Another of my co-workers, Yasmin was sat on one of the benches, reading a magazine. She smiled when she looked up and saw me.

"Ava!" She slammed the magazine down on the bench and pounded over to me. Her long red hair was coming loose from the bun she'd shoved it into. She gave me a big hug and I hugged her back. Yasmin wasn't just my co-worker; she was also my best friend. We'd met in kindergarten and had instantly become best friends. We went to the same elementary school and high school and then went on to work at the restaurant together. When I pulled back she was looking at me with her worried jade green eyes. I sighed at her and walked over to my locker.

"I know I'm late" I said pulling out my uniform and starting to change. I turned to look back at her. She was rearranging her bun, scraping her hair up and tying it tighter. "Does Sam know I'm late yet?"

She nodded and I cursed under my breath. Sam was my half-Italian boss. He was a pretty cool boss, but he hated it when we were late, especially me for some reason. He was always the hardest on me.

"He told me to tell you to go and see him in his office when you arrived" She slumped down on the bench next to me, her gold locket which she always wore swinging around her neck. Her locket had a picture of her mom in it, who had died when Yasmin was born. I groaned and carried on changing.

"I don't get why he always thrashes me about the tardiness. I'm not the only one who's late!"

Yasmin laughed in agreement. There were ten waitresses including me in total. We were split into two groups of five. The group I worked in was the day waitresses. We worked from opening time until 4.30pm. Then there were the night waitresses. They worked from 4.30pm until closing time which was midnight. I was glad when I knew I would be working in the day group. Working until late hours of the night was not something I would have liked to do. Plus I would never get any time to study for my entrance exam.

"Ava?" Yasmin's voice snapped me back to attention.

"Huh?" I asked not sure what we had been talking about.

"I said are you going to go and see Sam?"

"Oh... No." I couldn't be bothered to go and get scolded by Sam right now. I was in a good mood and didn't need it ruined before I'd even started work. Yasmin laughed her usual cheerful chuckle.

"Well okay then" She murmured in her 'you're in trouble' tone "But Sam is going to go ape shit at you" She winked as I shrugged my; who-cares shrug and finished getting dressed. I tied my hair back into a black scrunchie and changed my sneakers for black flat shoes.

"You ready?" I asked Yasmin when I was done. She nodded and led the way as we headed out into the restaurant to start work.

It was 12pm and time for our break when Yasmin and I strolled out back for our lunch break. We slumped down on one of the benches.

"Yasmin?" I asked turning towards her

"What?"

"What are you doing tonight?" She made a sound like she was thinking and then shrugged her shoulders

"Nothing at all, why?"

"Well I was wondering if-"

"So you finally decided to show up then" I heard a firm male voice say from behind me and I knew in an instant that it was my boss, Sam. I could tell from the hint of aggravation in his voice. I rolled my eyes to Yasmin and turned around to face Sam with the fakest smile I could manage. He was stood in the doorway staring at me with his fierce sky blue eyes. Sam was a handsome man. He was half Italian with dark brown hair and a bit of stubble on his chin. He worked out every day, which you could tell just by looking at his body. He was pumped. For a thirty-two year old he looked about twenty-five.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It won't happen again" I mumbled. His gaze shifted between me and Yasmin multiple times, then landed on Yasmin and stayed there.

"Didn't I tell you to tell her to come and see me when she got here? I've been waiting all damn morning" He snapped at her. She looked at me with a big help-me look written all over her face.

"Are you that eager to see me?" I asked as a joke, trying to catch his attention. He didn't look at me at all, just kept his gaze on Yasmin.

"Should I have written it down for you instead?" I did not like the tone of voice he was taking with her and I was about to put him in his place. Yasmin got there before I could though.

"I'm sorry Sam. It slipped my mind. It's been a busy day today" She looked at me with a don't-you-dare-say-anything look and apologized to Sam again. He sighed, nodded his head at her then turned to me.

"Ava, when your break is over come and see me in my office, please"

"Sure thing, boss"

Sam flinched. I knew he hated it when I called him boss, which is the exact reason why I did it. There was just something so fun about pushing his buttons. After he'd closed the door behind him Yasmin laughed so loud I was sure he would have heard her. But I couldn't help but laugh too.

"You shouldn't tease him like that" She said still laughing so much I had a hard time understanding what she had said "You know he hates it when you call him boss"

"I know, but it's just so damn fun! Oh and thanks for covering for me Yas"

She smiled and just shook her head.

"I just don't want you getting fired, not that that could ever happen. Sam is like totally into you" I grimaced at that thought. Sam was handsome sure, but I was not attracted to him in the slightest. This was unfortunate since I knew he liked me, and he would be a good boyfriend or husband to any woman. I looked over at Yasmin, she was in no doubt thinking what it would be like if me and Sam was to become a couple.

"What you're thinking right now" I said pointing at her "Would never happen. I just don't see him in that way" She laughed and put her hands up.

"I know, I know. Oh by the way, what were you about to ask me before Sam interrupted us?" It took me a minute to remember what we had been talking about.

"Oh yeah, what do you think about ZeroSum?" She looked at me with a puzzled look on her face.

"ZeroSum? I don't know. I guess it's an okay place, why?"

"I want you to go there with me tonight" She shot me an; are-you-kidding-me look.

"You don't even like clubs Ava, besides ZeroSum is bad news" I knew all too well that it was bad news. I had gotten attacked by a drunken man outside of there while I was walking home one night. He was being thrown out by a large woman with a men's haircut. She'd thrown him right in front of me and he'd gotten up and started trying to hit on me. When I'd rejected him he started being rough, grabbing me and trying to pull me into an alley next to the club. If it wasn't for that woman I don't know what I would have done. She just came up behind him put him in an arm lock and told me to get out of there. I'd complied and ran all the way home. It was the worst experience of my life. In fact, it was the second worse. As I started to think back to what happened when I was fifteen, Yasmin caught my attention.

"Ava? I said why do you want to go there?" Yasmin knew about my dream that I'd been having, but I sure as hell did not want to tell her that it told me to go to ZeroSum tonight. Nope, not one bit.

"Don't worry about the why, and just come with me. Please?" When she didn't answer I stood up and put my hands together, in a praying gesture. "Please?" She rolled her eyes

"Alright, fine." She sighed. I clapped and hugged her

"Good. I wanted to be there by 9pm" I stretched "What time is it?"

"12.30pm, let's get back to work" I nodded. She started to walk towards the door when she spun around to look at me. "Why do you want to go to ZeroSum?" She asked again. I just pushed her towards the door and sighed.

"I'll tell you if I have too, if not, don't worry about it" She mumbled an 'okay' sound and ran off into the staff room, while I dragged myself down the hall to Sam's office.

When I was outside Sam's office I traced the gold lettering on his door that read 'Samuel Adriano Rossi, manager'_ Manager_, I thought to myself, _and royal pain in the ass._ I knocked once, twice, three times and when there was still no answer I pushed open the door and walked in. Sam was sat signing papers at his desk. When he didn't seem to notice me I spoke.

"You look stressed boss" He jumped up when I spoke and locked eyes with mine. Wow, he was extra uptight today. "Sorry if I startled you" I murmured "I knocked but you didn't answer"

"Sorry, I didn't hear you. I've had so much work to sign I haven't been paying attention to anything else" _Except me being late_, I thought to myself.

"I noticed" I said eyeing the stacks of paperwork on his desk. "Busy day, huh?"

"Yeah well, on top of all that I'm also arranging things for David, who's decided he wants his wedding reception here next month"

Holy crap! David wanted his wedding reception here, in the restaurant? That sounded exciting.

"What's with the expression?" Sam asked. It was clear I had let my excitement show.

"I've never done a wedding reception, and on top of that it's David's! You're gonna let me waitress right Sam?" I asked way too eager for my own good. He smiled at me and sat back down, mumbling something under his breath.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh it's nothing. But anyway, I thought you didn't like working nights? Oh, and about nights, that's what I wanted to talk to you about" He ushered me to sit in the chair opposite him. I complied and walked over, slumping down in one of the peach colored chairs. He was about to speak again when his phone rang. He looked at the caller I.D, rubbed his temples and answered his phone, giving me the one minute hand gesture. I nodded and looked around Sam's office. His office was very fancy, just like the rest of his restaurant. He'd inherited it from his dad, but had made a few changes. But the office was the same as it was before he'd taken over from his dad a year ago. He was sitting behind a mahogany desk with stacks and stacks of paperwork on it. He was sat on a deep burgundy leather desk chair that had reclined to an almost obscene angle as he leaned back, to the point where it looked like it was about to snap. He had deep purple curtains to the side of each window and black out blinds rolled up. The windows were wide open and the breeze that blew in was refreshing.

Sam said goodbye to whoever was on the phone and hung up, turning back to me.

"Sorry about that Ava, more work crap"

"No problem, so what were you saying before?" He had to think for a minute before answering.

"Ah yes, Melissa won't be able to make her shift tomorrow night. So you're going to fill in for her" I blinked a couple of time before answering.

"I am?"

"Yes, Saturdays are always busy and four waitresses won't be enough"

"So ask somebody else to do it"

"No you're going to do it"

"The hell I am"

"Ava, I've already made up my mind"

"But why me? There's four other girls out there, why not any of them?" I was so mad. He was always like this with me; the other girls had it easy. But he couldn't force me to work like this.

"Were any of those girls late this morning?"

I scoffed at him. "That's so petty"

"Look Ava" He softened his tone "Do this for me and I promise you can waitress for David's wedding reception next month, okay?" Dammit. He had me at wedding reception. I cursed.

"Okay, deal" I stood up "Was that all?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, I'm gonna get back to work" I was just about to walk out the door when he called my name. I turned back towards him.

"What?"

"Thanks for doing this for me" I laughed a; yeah-right laugh at him.

"It's not for you, it's for the wedding reception" I winked as he smiled and walked out.

"Yasmin!" I called out to her as she was walking to the kitchen with two empty plates. She flashed me a big grin and headed into the kitchen, coming back out a couple of seconds later. She skipped over to me.

"How'd it go?" She asked me. I made an 'ugh' face and beckoned her to follow me to the staff room.

"He wants me to fill in for one of the part-time waitresses' tomorrow night" I said when we were sat down on one of the bright green sofas in the staff room. The part-time waitresses were ten waitresses that worked Saturdays and Sundays so the full time waitresses got the weekend off. It was very thoughtful of Sam to be honest. It was the same routine as the full time waitresses, five worked from opening time to 4:30pm, and the other five worked from 4:30pm until closing time.

"That sucks" She said playing with a lock of hair that had fallen out of her bun.

"Yeah, it really does" There was an awkward silence and I knew what she was thinking about. Why I wanted to go to ZeroSum tonight. "Ask me then" I said, figuring it wasn't fair to drag her to ZeroSum without telling her why I wanted to go there.

"Ask you what?" She asked playing dumb. I laughed

"Ask me why I want to go to ZeroSum tonight" After a moment of silence she spoke.

"No, I don't want to know why" She said getting up "Come on let's get back to work" I nodded and followed her out of the staff room and into the kitchen.

The kitchen staff was made up of seven people. They were run by two fully blooded Italian chefs, Emilio and Luca. They were the best chefs in New York. They could cook anything from Italian to Chinese food. Emilio worked from opening time to 4.30, and Luca worked from 4.30 to closing time, but sometimes they switched around. Then there was the youngest of everybody that worked in 'Taste of Tuscany'. His name was Nathanial; he was eighteen and was the dishwasher. It was a tough job standing around cleaning the dishes from opening time until closing time, but Nathanial didn't mind and as far as everybody was concerned, he was just as much a part of the team as everybody else. Then there was Tori. She was in charge of tossing the salads.

"Whoa!" Yasmin said as we walked in. "That's a hell of a lot of orders Emilio!" She tapped the strips of white paper that were hanging from the order rack. She was right there. There must have been fifteen or twenty orders hanging.

"Yes, I know" Emilio said in his serious; no-messing-around tone, finishing two delicious looking meals and picking them up. "So why don't you girls make yourselves useful instead of standing around gawking" He shoved the two plates of food at me "These are for table nine"

"Got it" I said as I walked out of the kitchen and into the restaurant. "Wow" I muttered to myself as I made my way over to table nine. It was busier than usual today. All of the tables were full and there were people queuing, waiting for a table to become free. Eventually, after a lot of excuse me's and apologies I reached table nine. A couple was sat at that table. A beautiful woman with wavy blond hair and blue eyes, and a man with jet black hair. They were newlyweds. I could tell by the way she kept playing with the wedding ring on her finger. They looked so happy. I felt a pang of jealousy shoot through me from watching them.

"Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup?" I said putting the dish in front of the woman as she raised her hand. "And Peppered Shrimp Alfredo?" The man nodded as I put his plate in front of him. They looked amazed at how well presented the food was.

"This looks amazing!" The woman said smiling up at me. I smiled back at her

"Can I get you anything else? No? Okay, enjoy your meal!" I walked away from the table and looked back over at them. I thought back to my dream, not knowing what I would find tonight, if I would find anything at all. But all I knew was that I had to be at ZeroSum tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, after what had seemed like it was never ending, my shift was over and I was waiting outside of the restaurant for Yasmin. She rushed out a couple of moments later, her red hair loose and messy. I didn't give her time to say hello as I rushed to speak.

"So we're meeting outside of ZeroSum at 9pm okay? She nodded and checked her watch. I felt bad for dragging Yasmin to the club with me, but I didn't want to go alone, and I had to be there no matter what.

We said our goodbyes and Yasmin took a cab home while I walked. The sun was already setting as I walked along. The sky was like the bright orange glow of a candle before it's about to go out. The air was chilly now, making my cheeks cold as it brushed past. On my way home I rejoiced the fact that I was Friday. I didn't work Saturdays or Sundays so I could get a lot of studying in on Saturday and on Sunday I would just do a whole lot of nothing-at-all. Then I suddenly remembered I had to fill in for Melissa tomorrow night, and my mood dropped instantly. When I got to my apartment block I punched in the four-digit code and went inside. I opened my mailbox and sifted through my mail.

"Crap, crap, crap" I said to myself flicking through advertisements. I stopped at a letter from St. Francis hospital. It was for my yearly checkup from them. I'd had to have that yearly checkup every year for the past five years. The three years before that had been quarterly checkups. I thought back to why I'd had to have those checkups. To the fatal car accident that left me parentless and with a deadly brain injury. Then the recovery that shouldn't of happened.

"How you doing Ava?" I spun around to find my landlord, Kevin, stood on the stairwell behind me that led up to the first floor. I grimaced when I saw him. He was wearing a dirty black vest, which his beer belly hung out of. He had shorts on that hung just above his bulging knees, and was wearing flip flops. His feet were nearly brown and I found myself wondering when the last time he bathed was. He was eyeing me up and down.

"Hi, Kevin" I said with no interest at all. I closed my mailbox and headed up the stairs. As I came close to him my stomach wrenched. The smell of weed and sweat coming off him was almost enough to answer my question about bathing, and nearly bring me to my knees. "I'll have your rent by the end of the week" I said quietly. Not waiting for him to answer, I ran up the flights of stairs to my floor. Unlocked my door and slammed it shut behind me. I couldn't express how much I hated that man. But I couldn't think about that now. I went to my tiny kitchen and popped a frozen dinner in the microwave oven and turned the television on in the living room while I waited. There was an infomercial on about a new weight machine. The man using it was so buff it looked like his muscles were going to pop right out of his skin. He was wearing a blue muscle top and tight black shorts. I found myself laughing at how ridiculous he looked, although the woman that was watching him exercise seemed more than impressed, to the point where she looked like she was about to jump his bones. The oven dinged and I sat down on one of the couches with my frozen dinner. I put on an old episode of Project Runway. I'd watched this episode before with Beth. We were laughing at some of the terrible dresses on there. I remembered how Beth had said one looked like 'a big fluffy cloud'. I sighed and turned the television back off, a sudden wave of woe coming over me. I finished the rest of my frozen dinner in silence and went to my bedroom. I looked at the clock, it was 5.15pm. I picked up my books off of the floor and hopped on my bed, I had better get a couple of hours of studying in before I went to ZeroSum. I opened one of the books and started to read.

When I next looked at the clock it was 7.30pm. I'd been studying for ages. I got up, stretched and walked to the bathroom. Turning the shower on, I undressed and slipped under the water. I leaned back against the shower wall and wondered about what would happen tonight, if anything would happen at all. I imagined myself at ZeroSum. I imagined the mysterious and sexy man from my dream walking over to me, the crowd becoming one huge blur surrounding us. I imagined him pushing me up against a wall and doing everything to me that he does in my dream, and so much more. I imagined him pulling me close against his huge body, running his big hands up my arched back, his breath coming down in hot waves over my neck. I imagined the feel of his hand gently running over my bare stomach as he slid his hand up the front of my shirt. His other hand sliding further down my back until it rested on my bottom, drawing me as close towards him as our bodies would allow. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his face into mine as I locked lips with him. The kiss felt like a dream within a dream, so tender my heart almost stopped. I pulled back and looked into his gleaming diamond eyes. They were so intense, so beautiful, and so perfect. I wanted him bad. By the way he was looking at me, he wanted me too. His eyes traced my body, landing on my neck. He licked his lips and opened his mouth to reveal those pearl white fangs, they were elongated as he brought his mouth above my neck, the hunger in his eyes getting stronger, and he brought his fangs down to my neck, piercing my –

The feel of the water turning freezing cold snapped me back to reality, I screamed like a little girl and jumped out of the shower. Shivering, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me and ran back to my bedroom. It was 8.15pm on the clock. Shit, I'd been in the shower for forty-five minutes? I cursed as I walked over to the wardrobe to get my outfit for tonight; I already knew what I was going to wear, I'd been deciding the whole day at work. I pulled out a black lace corset top that I'd only worn once since I'd bought it, and some low waist tight black jeans. I laid them on the bed and turned to the mirror, looking at my hair. I didn't have time to do anything to it so I just blow dried it and left it as it was. One thing I loved about my hair was that it was thick and it looked nice without even having to try too hard. I pulled on the corset top which still fit fine thank god, considering I'd bought it nearly six months ago and had had many Banana Twinkie study nights since then, and pulled on the jeans, which I had to admit were feeling a little tight around the waistband. Plus I had to breath in to get them to button up, looked like I wouldn't be sitting down much tonight. After contemplating what shoes to wear, I found a pair of velvet black wedges at the back of my wardrobe, they were Yasmins. She'd left them here a while ago and hadn't asked for them back. I slipped them on, it was a good job me and her had pretty much the same feet size, I thought to myself, tying the laces at the top of them. I did a quick twirl in my mirror, and feeling satisfied with the way I looked, I grabbed my purse, phone and keys off the coffee table in my living room, and headed for ZeroSum.

At 9.15 I was waiting in the cold outside ZeroSum for Yasmin. She'd called my cell on the way to ZeroSum saying she was going to be late. So there I was stood alone. I looked over to the long line waiting to go into ZeroSum; some of the men in the line were looking at me, wanting looks on their faces. I rolled my eyes and looked away, wishing I'd worn a jacket. I was used to getting looks from men, I was a decent looking woman, but tonight it was cold and I felt naked. As I was considering whether or not to run home and grab a jacket or not, Yasmin arrived in front of me, getting out of a cab. She was wearing a short grey strapless dress that barely covered her bottom, brown tights and black high heels with studded diamonds all over them. She had her usual locket on, plus some black beads. Her long red hair hung past her shoulders. She smiled at me as she reached me. She had a brown jacket hanging from her arm. I cursed again wishing I had of brought one.

"Sorry I'm late" She said as we joined the line. Men around us couldn't take their eyes off us. It seemed to annoy her as much as it did me as she rolled her eyes at me. She looked me up and down a couple of times "You look great!"

"Thanks. I hope you don't mind, I used your shoes"

"Not at all, they look great on you!" I thanked her and then rubbed my arms. She handed her jacket to me. "Here, I'm not cold anyway"

"Thanks" I said sliding it on my shoulders. I was a bit bigger than Yasmin so it was a tight fit, but I didn't complain, it wasn't like anything else I was wearing was a perfect fit anyway, remembering my ordeal trying to get into the jeans.

As we got closer to the entrance my heart started beating hard in my chest. My breathing was getting harder too. I was totally and utterly nervous. Yasmin had obviously realized this too.

"Is something wrong?" She asked me looking at me with a worried look.

"I'm just cold" I lied not making eye contact with her. This was a mistake.

"Wait here" She said running off to the front of the line. I peeked out to see what she was doing. She was talking to the bouncer. By the way she was smiling I could tell she had her flirty face on. Oh crap I thought to myself as she ran back with a big smile on her face. "Come on" She said taking my hand and pulling me forward. When we reached the huge bouncer, he nodded and opened the door for us. The music from the club poured out, screaming in my ears. My heart started beating even faster as Yasmin went in, pulling me behind her. The club was full to the brim of people dancing. As I entered the club, the mixed smell of smoke, drugs, sweat and too many people attacked my nose as I inhaled. The neon lasers lit up the whole dance floor, revealing what must have been over two hundred people, all squashed together dancing like there was no tomorrow. The music was so loud I could feel the vibrations rush up my skin, compressing my lungs. As my eyes adjusted to the imminent darkness, Yasmin dragged me through the crowd, along some sort of sticky like floor. My shoes were getting stuck every step, like I was walking on duct tape. Finally, after a lot of pushing and shoving, we managed to secure two seats at the bar. Sitting down, the bartender came straight over to us and asked us what we wanted.

"Spritzer" Yasmin shouted over the noise winking at the bartender. He smiled at her and turned to me.

"I'll have a Grey Goose, please" I also had to shout to be heard. he nodded and went to make our drinks. I took Yasmin's jacket off, suddenly hot now we were in the club. I looked out over the crowd, hoping to spot someone I recognized, but with no such luck. The people on the dance floor all looked the same too me, even though they varied in race and hair color. They blended together, under-dressed women and the men they were grinding against. Then, across the dance floor in the shadows, I noticed someone I actually recognized. The female security guard was standing in the dark, leaning back against the wall, barely noticeable. The one who had helped me out that one time, when the drunken man had tried to attack me. The one with the men's haircut and the muscles. She was staring off into the distance, towards the VIP area. I got a warm feeling when I looked at her, and realized I had never thanked her for helping me. Our drinks came back and I took a sip, tugging Yasmin's arm. I had to tug at her a few times because she was busy flirting with the bartender but eventually turned to look at me.

"I'll be right back" I shouted over the noise. I had to repeat it for her twice before she heard me; eventually she nodded and turned her attention back to the bartender. Slowly but surely, I made my way along the duct-tape-like floor, pushing through the hordes of bodies moving in time to the beat. I nearly got pushed over multiple times, but I eventually made it over to the other side of the dance floor. The security guard was still staring into the VIP area as I walked up to her. She didn't look at me until I was stood right in front of her. She looked me up and down in an unimpressed fashion and I immediately felt intimidated. I think anyone would feel intimated if they came into close contact with this woman, even a man. Maybe it was because I'd never been this close to her before, but I hadn't noticed how huge she really was.

"What?" she said in a harsh way which should have been worded _what the hell do you want?_ Suddenly I had no idea what to say to her. I must have been stood there in silence for a stupid amount of time. "Like the view?" She asked in what I couldn't tell was either a sarcastic or a casual tone.

"Pardon?" I asked not sure how to answer that.

"I said" she began, bringing her back up off the wall. "Do you like the view?" She towered over me.

"No!" I blurted out then instantly regretted it, a 6 foot something female security guard with the muscles of a man was not someone I wanted to piss off. "I mean yes, of course" I seriously had a case of verbal diarrhea right now. She scoffed at me and leant back against the wall, looking over to the VIP section again. I was about to take a glance at what she was looking at when she spoke up.

"Sorry, I don't do chicks" She stated while not taking her eyes off the VIP. I had no idea what to make of that.

"Excuse me?" I said utterly confused.

"I'm not a lesbian"

"Neither am I!" I said astonished at her accusation. She looked back at me.

"What do you want then?"

"You don't remember me do you?" When she didn't answer me I assumed she didn't. "It's nothing big but, about a month ago you helped me out when a guy tried to attack me. You were throwing him out of your club and he grabbed me and starting being rough with me. You saved me" I sounded lame saying she saved me, but before I could correct myself a hint of recognition sparked in her eyes.

"That was you?" She asked. I nodded sheepishly.

"Thank you" When she nodded at me I instantly felt relaxed. Her eyes moved back to the VIP section and I followed her gaze this time. "What are you looking at?" She didn't answer but instead she backed off the wall again.

"To apologize for the trouble one of our VIP members caused you, feel free to spend the night in the VIP section, free drinks on me" I didn't know what to say. I felt like a school girl that had just gotten her first A on a test. No idea what to do or say other than to just stand in place blushing. Then I remembered.

"I came with a friend, can she join me?"

"Sure, just give the name Xhex to the bouncers by the VIP, they'll let you straight in"

"Thank you" I said as she walked past me, heading to the VIP area. I pushed my way back through the dance floor to the bar, not bothering to apologize to the people who cursed at me for shoving them. When I reached the bar Yasmin was playing with the locket around her neck, the bartender was busy serving other people. I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped up, nearly jumping out of her skin entirely.

"Sorry for startling you" I said close to her ear so I didn't have to shout as loud. She shook her head, taking a sip from her drink. I sat down opposite her and started smiling.

"What?" She shouted, smiling too.

"I got us into VIP!" I shouted so loud a few people looked at us. Yasmin went wide eyed. It was hard to tell but I was pretty sure a little squeal left her mouth.

"How did you manage that?" I shook my head at her and grabbed her arm, pulling her through the dance floor and over to the VIP ropes. Two bouncers were stood there. All black with ear pieces, they reminded me of the Men in Black and I was half expecting a couple of aliens to come crashing through the ceiling_. _I gave them Xhex's name and they let us straight through. The VIP section was a lot more spacious than the main part of the club. There were six booths, three on each side. There were two empty booths and we slid into the far right one. A waitress wearing short shorts and a short checkered shirt came up to us, taking our orders. We ordered the same as we did at the bar and she went off to go and get our drinks. I heard laughter coming from the booth opposite us and I glanced over. Three men were sat there a girl in between each of them. One of the men had red curly hair. He was wearing a blue Abercrombie & Fitch motif t-shirt and dark blue shaded jeans. He looked uncomfortable as one of the girls had her hands on his chest and was leaning up and whispering into his ear. His fake laugh kept echoing around the VIP section, as clear a fake as the laugh was, the girl seemed appeased by this. The man in the middle had short dark brown hair. He had an utterly bored expression on his face as he ignored the girl who was talking to him; he was staring towards two bouncers that were guarding a door. Just as I glanced at the door Xhex walked out and propped herself against a wall. She started staring back at the man in the booth. I got an odd feeling they knew each other pretty well. I looked at the last guy, he had his face buried in a girl's neck, and his brown hair was all I could see. Yasmin nudged me with her arm.

"I'm going to the bathroom" she said getting up from our booth. As she walked past the booth with the men sat inside, I noticed the one who had his face buried in the girls neck, snap his head up to look at Yasmin as she walked past. She noticed him too and stopped dead for a couple of seconds, before looking back at me and carrying on to the bathroom in a hurry. Then the man in the booth turned his head and locked eyes with me. His eyes were full of hunger and desire. They beamed at me and I could see that he had one blue eye and one green eye. I looked down to my drink that the waitress had brought over to us a couple of minutes ago. When I looked back up he was gone. For some reason I was instantly worried about Yasmin. I was about to get up and check on her when a man walked past my booth. I froze in place looking at the back of his head. He had black curly hair. I thought back to my dream. 'The kind you'd love to run your hands through while you pulled him close and kissed him like there was no tomorrow'. My heart stopped dead in my chest. I found myself willing him to turn around so much I thought my brain would explode. He stopped inches away from my table and took out a big wad of cash from his leather jacket pocket. Counting it quickly, he slipped it back into his pocket and kept walking. He walked over to the two huge bouncers guarding a door that must have led to some kind of office. One of the bouncers spoke into his watch, and then a couple of seconds later he opened the door. The curly haired guy went in, the door shutting behind him. I didn't take my eyes off the door the whole time he was in there. I didn't even notice Yasmin slip back into the booth until she slid up right next to me. I turned to face her; she looked flushed as she played with the locket around her neck.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. When she didn't answer I touched her shoulder, she flinched.

"Huh?" She asked me.

"Are you alright?" I asked again. She nodded and then proceeded to down her drink, then call the waitress over and order another. I looked over to the booth opposite us. The man with the mismatched eyes was sitting there again, staring over at us. No not us, Yasmin. I felt like if I had a pair of scissors I could have cut the tension between them. I was about to ask Yasmin what the hell had happened while she was in the bathroom when the office door that was guarded by the two bouncers opened. The mysterious man walked out and –

My heart stopped. I could see his face. His hair that was longer in the front than it was in the back. His adorable yet manly goatee, the alarming tattoos around his eyes. Oh, those eyes! Those beautiful diamond eyes. He was just as perfect as he was in my dream. But his expression wasn't the same. He had a sad expression on his face, one that made me want to go over to him and hold him close. I had to hold the table hard to stop myself from doing anything. He walked over to the booth opposite us and put his hands on the table, talking to the three men there, and the girls shimmied out of the booth and headed out of the VIP section. The man who was looking at Yasmin had looked up to speak to him, looking back at us every few seconds. The man from my dreams finished talking to them and started to head for the corridor that led to the bathrooms, as the man who was sat in the booth opposite us got up. He was walking towards us and Yasmin started fidgeting next to me. I looked over to the man from my dreams that was walking away and before I knew what I was doing I got up with such speed that the table wobbled so hard if it could have fallen over it would have. The man walking towards us stopped in his tracks, obviously wondering whether to continue to come over or sit back down.

"What's wrong?" Yasmin asked also now alarmed at the way I had just gotten up.

"I'll be back" I said to her and slid out the booth, walking past the guy from the opposite booth. I hurried to the corridor with the bathrooms and saw the man from my dreams was walking past the bathrooms and to the end of the corridor to a fire exit. I followed him at a distance, making sure he didn't notice me. He pushed open the fire exit and walked out into the night. I waited for a few seconds before proceeding to the exit and also pushing it open. The night air was a lot colder now than it had been earlier, and I wished I'd brought Yasmin's jacket with me. I walked out shutting the door behind me. I was in an alley, by the side of the club. The same one I'd been attacked in by that drunken guy. I immediately looked around for the man from my dreams. He wasn't in the alley, but since one end of the alley was a dead end, there was only way he could have gone. I ran down the other end of the alley and came out, the front of ZeroSum to my left. The line was still full, people shouting shoving each other. A few wolf whistles were directed my way but I ignored them. I looked to my right and spotted my dream man, which I had decided I would call him. He was walking down the street a few metres away from me. I began to follow him, keeping my footsteps as quiet as possible and almost cursing when they were loud. My dream man didn't seem to notice though. I took his profile in from behind as I followed him. He was huge, just like in my dreams. He had a leather biker jacket on, stretched over his large shoulders. Leather pants which were tucked into huge black boots. He moved with such a stride, confident and dangerous at the same time. I was intimated from just walking behind him, but that didn't stop me. I wanted to see those eyes again. I loved those captivating eyes, that goatee, those tattoos. I must have been following him for about two minutes when he turned right and headed into an alley. I got to the alley a few seconds later and slowly peeked around to see what –

What the hell. The alley was empty. The only thing in it was a big black dumpster right at the end. I walked down the alley to the other end. It was a dead end. But I'd definitely saw him walk down here. I looked behind the dumpster, nothing. I put my hands on the wall and pushed as if the wall would move and reveal some sort of secret passage where he had gone, but no such luck. I was baffled. Where the hell had he vanished too? I looked up to see if he could have climbed over a wall, but the alley was surrounded by huge buildings, not even someone of his size could have jumped over them. I must have been standing there for a good five minutes wondering what had happened, when I gave up. For some stupid reason I felt tears come to my eyes. I'd finally met the man from my dreams. The man I always knew in some way was more than just a dream, more like a vision. But now he was gone, I'd blown it. Wiping the tears away and feeling like a complete idiot, I turned around to go back down the alley and stopped dead. My dream man was stood not five feet away from me. I could see him clearly. Every speck of his face stood out in intricate detail. My heart pounded as he looked at me with those gleaming eyes. But the expression on his face was not the one from my dream, or the club. He didn't look happy, or sad, he looked pissed off.

"Why are you following me?" His voice nearly knocked me to my knees. I had to hold the wall to keep myself upright. It was just like my dream only a million times better. It was low and husky, and full of desire. It engulfed me, surrounded me and played in my head over and over. Oh how I wanted him to talk again. Just so I could hear the sweet sound of his voice once more. Just once more and I'd be happy. His skin looked so smooth I wanted to touch it, and before I knew what I was doing, I took my hand off the wall and reached out too his face. Bad idea, my legs couldn't support my body and my knees buckled. But before I could fall, my dream man grabbed my arm, pulling me back up. He pulled me around to his side and pushed me face first against the wall, pushing my arm up behind me. He didn't push me hard enough to hurt me, but I still gasped as he pushed himself into me, his huge body pressing me against the wall. He leant down to my ear.

"Let's try this again shall we?" He loosened his grip on my arm and spun me around to face him pushing my back against the wall "Why are you following me?" His face was so close to mine I could see everything perfectly. His top lip was raised in a snarl and I could see his long white fangs. Like my body was working by itself, my free arm lifted itself and my hand went to his mouth, brushing down his extra-long canines. He must have then realized what his mouth actually looked like because he grabbed my arm with his free hand and pushed it against the wall. His expression became even more pissed.

"Why the FUCK are you following me female?" His voice came out in a growl. I had a feeling that if I didn't answer he would just get even more agitated. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. I felt my eyes start watering again, out of utter disbelief that this person was stood in front of me. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him how happy I was to see him. This person that I'd just met, I felt like I'd known him for years. A tear rolled down my cheek and he immediately let go of one of my arms. I wiped the tear away vigorously, but more followed.

"Shit" He said letting go of me completely. I looked into his eyes. There was a hint of guilt in them. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand and I realized that his left hand had a black glove on it but his right hand did not. "I'm sorry" He said holding his hands up as if to calm me. But the fact that he was apologizing just made me feel even stupider.

"I'm sorry" I managed to breathe out the words when the hysteria had stopped. "I didn't mean to follow you. I just-" I looked up at him but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking towards the entrance of the alley with a hard narrowed stare. I followed his gaze and saw what he saw. Two large men were stood at the entrance. They had pale blonde hair and very pale skin, almost the color of milk. One of them had something in his hand but I couldn't quite see what it was. They started to move towards us and I gasped as I realized what he was carrying. It was a god damned gun. Out of sheer fright I gripped the man from my dreams by his arm and started pulling him towards the end of the alley, suddenly fearful for his life. Not that it helped, it was a dead end. My back touched the wall at the end of the alley. We had nowhere to go, and the two large men were closing in fast. Then it all happened so fast. My dream man pushed me behind the dumpster and pounded down the alley at the two men. I heard a lot of thumping noises, like they were fist fighting, a loud bang, which I assumed was the gun going off, then a howl of pain; it was my dream man's voice. Without thinking I ran out into the open alley. My dream man was clutching his right arm. The pale haired man with the gun was on the floor, a big slash across his throat, some kind of black substance was oozing out of him. My dream man was facing off with the other pale haired man. They started fighting; kicking and punching each other. In one move my dream man threw the pale haired man over his shoulder and he landed with a thud a few feet from where I was stood. He was still with his eyes closed. I inched closer to him, trying to move around him to get to my dream man, when his eyes shot open. I let out a yelp as he grabbed my leg, making me trip over my own feet. I fell to the floor with a thud, the pale haired man still looking at me with a murderous expression on his face. A big boot came down hard on the man's face, crushing it. I looked up as my dream man took his foot off the man's face. The pale haired man let go of my leg and I scrambled to my feet.

"Are you alright?" My dream man asked. I looked over at him; he was still clutching his arm. Without thinking I reached out and took his arm. There was blood, a lot of it. Trickling down his hand and dripping to the floor.

"Oh god, you're bleeding" My voice was cracked. The thought of my dream man being hurt was unbearable. "We should get you to a hospital or something" I tried to pull him but he wouldn't move. He shook his head and took out his phone. He started to call someone and after a few seconds they answered.

"Butch? Yeah. An alley off Trade Street about two minutes' walk from the club. Okay" He hung up and looked back to me. He looked me up and down as if surveying for injuries, when he saw I had none he led me out of the alley onto the street.

"What about those men?" I asked looking back to the two bodies on the floor. "Are they dead?"

"No, not yet" I should have been worried about the fact that he'd say not yet, but I was just relieved he was okay. "Stay here" He said and walked back into the alley. I didn't know what he was doing in there but I was going to do as he said and stay outside, I knew that much for sure. Somehow I think he knew that too. I leaned against the cold bricks of the building behind me and slid down, my feet suddenly hurting. I yelped leaped back off the wall when my back scraped against something sharp. I turned around to see what it was that had attacked me. A long piece of wood with a nail on the end was leaning against the wall, nail facing outwards.

"Jesus" I said rubbing the small of my back. I turned the wood around so the nail was facing the building. I leant back against it and glanced to my right and froze in place. Another pale man was just walking into the alley. He hadn't noticed me, but he'd definitely noticed my dream man, and what were probably his buddies on the floor. I ran to the entrance of the alley just in time to see the pale man reach down and pick up the gun that the other man had dropped. The man was still alive, gurgling, black liquid coming out of his throat still. I was about to scream out to my dream man to watch out, who was kneeling over one of the men, facing away, when I stopped myself just short. If I yelled out my dream man would turn around and the pale man would definitely shoot him. Without thinking I grabbed the piece of wood with the nail in and ran up to the pale man. It was heavy, and I had a hard time lifting it above my head. The pale man must have heard me because he turned just as I swung the piece of wood, hitting him square in the face. The nail went straight into the pale haired man's forehead, making a huge cracking sound and snapping the stick in half at the strong impact. The same black liquid spurted out of the man's head as he fell to the floor. I dropped the half of the stick I was holding and looked at my shaken hands. I'd just killed someone with these hands. I'd just murdered a person in cold blood, and the worst part was that I felt no regret. I looked up to my dream man. He was still kneeling over the other pale man, but he was looking right at me. He got up and walked over to me, when he reached me he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't feel bad, they aren't human" That's right, I thought to myself. What human bled black blood? But then I thought back to my dream man and his extra-long pearly whites.

"But neither are you, right?" He looked at me as if surprised at how calm I was, but didn't answer me. I too, was surprised at how calm I was right now. "What are they?" I asked, my eyes moving to the one I'd hit in the head with the nailed wood. He was still alive, his chest moving up and down, black blood oozing everywhere.

"They're called Lessers" My dream man said, kneeling over the one I'd hurt. He went through his pockets and pulled out a wallet and a cell phone. He read out the details of the man's driver's license, which had been tucked inside the wallet. The man's name was Jonathon O'Connor.

"Lessers?" I repeated "What are they?"

"They used to be human" He got up and the lesser on the floor started to gurgle, more of the black blood squirting out of his mouth. "But then they sold their soul, and became undead"

"Sold their soul? To who?" He didn't answer so I didn't press on that subject. "Why is he still alive?"

"There's only two ways to kill a lesser" He unzipped the leather jacket to reveal a chest holster. On the holster were two crisscrossed black daggers. They were etched with some kind of symbol. They looked heavy as he took one out and flipped it around in his hands a couple of times. "One way is a stab to the heart with something steel" He put the dagger back in the holster and zipped the leather jacket back up.

"What's the other way?" I asked intrigued by the way he was openly telling me this stuff. I assumed that he wouldn't tell people this stuff often; it seemed like something he would try to keep secret. Which I understood having a secret of my own. He shook his head and scoffed, something telling me he was scoffing to himself more than me, like he just realized he was telling a total stranger something that wasn't supposed to be told.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this" He said still shaking his head. That confirmed that he didn't tell people about this stuff often, if at all. "But since you're not going to remember any of it, what's the harm?" I was confused by that statement. But before I could speak he did. "The other way to kill a lesser is-"

He stopped talking when a pair of car headlights beamed down the alley. A black Escalade stopped at the entrance of the alley and the driver side door opened. Thinking it might be more of those lesser things that he had mentioned, I inched closer to my dream man until our bodies were touching. I looked up at him but he didn't seem worried or angry, he had a small smile on his face. He raised his hand in a sort of waving gesture and I looked back to see the man who got out of the car. He looked way too familiar, and as he got closer and I saw him properly I did a double take when I realized who he was. It was the cop, Butch, who had visited Beth on a regular basis. He was wearing similar clothing to my dream man; leather trousers, shitkickers and a large leather biker jacket. I was willing to bet that he had on the same chest holster with the same daggers in as my dream man had. He walked up to my dream man and they clasped hands and gave each other a very masculine hug. He pulled away and looked at me, frowning a little as if trying to place where he'd seen me, before giving up and turning back to my dream man.

"Who's the girl?" He asked glancing back at me then down the alley to the three men on the floor.

"No one" My dream man replied in a negligent kind of way, as if I were redundant to the situation. This annoyed me greatly, as not five minutes ago I'd just saved his ass. I cut in before either one of them could speak again.

"You don't remember me?" I asked Butch. He looked at me with that same expression, trying to place me again. He clicked his fingers and pointed at me when he realized.

"You're the girl who lives in Beth's old apartment building" He seemed proud of himself for remembering.

"You know Beth?" My dream man asked. I nodded; surprised that he also knew her.

"We were friends, sort of, before she moved"

"Your name is…" Butch cut in but soon trailed off, none the less realizing he had never known my name to begin with.

"Ava Morgan" I said saving him the trouble. I looked over to my dream man. He was looking at me with such intensity in his eyes. I felt my heart beat so fast I thought it would pop out of my chest at any moment.

"Ava" Butch repeated as if in approval. "So why is she here V?" He asked turning back to my dream man. V? I thought to myself. Was his name V?

"Is that your name?" I asked him. He didn't answer me though.

"She followed me. Then we got ambushed by lessers. She nailed one, literally" He said pointing to the lesser closest to us, with the nailed wood in his head. Butch nodded again in approval.

"He was going to shoot you" I mumbled, eyes on the floor. I felt my cheeks get hot. Butch laughed.

"Protected by a girl, V?" He laughed again and V punched Butch in the chest, which Butch returned.

"Go do your thing then" V said to him and Butch walked over to the lesser closest to us. He took a few deep breaths before slowly kneeling down and readying himself. He looked back up to us and V nodded. Butch turned back towards the lesser and locked eyes with him. The lesser's eyes bulged as Butch opened his mouth and-

I gasped and stumbled back a few steps, but V caught me. A dark cloud of smoke like stuff was traveling from the lesser to Butch's mouth. It was like he was inhaling him or something.

"No running now" V said, still holding me. Not that I'd had any intention of running, this was all so surreal to me, I didn't know what to do other than stand where I was. "Wouldn't be good for you to run off with everything that's happened tonight in your memory" He tapped my forehead. I looked over at Butch just in time to see the lesser beneath him collapse into ash. He did that with the next two lessers and when he was finished he looked like death as he hobbled back over to V and me. He was about to fall over and I reached out to catch him, but V caught him before I did. Letting Butch rest on him, V pulled the black glove off his left hand. _Wow,_ I thought to myself. It was glowing. It looked so beautiful. It had similar tattoos on it to his eye. In a way it looked dangerous. But god, I wanted to touch that glowing hand. I had to grip my hands behind my back and lean against the alley wall to stop myself reaching out. V unzipped Butch's jacket, and I was right. Butch had two sharp black daggers, the same symbol on them that V's had.

"Lift your top up cop" V said to him and Butch complied, lifting up the black top he wore underneath the chest holster. I clasped my hand over my mouth to stop from making any sound when I saw what was under Butch's top. A huge black scar ran right the way down his stomach. It looked so painful and infectious, that when V went to put his precious glowing hand near that thing I almost screamed in protest.

"What are you doing?!" I asked trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, but failing miserably.

"Shut up" V said as his hand only hovered an inch away from Butch's disgusting stomach.

"Wait!" I said coming off the wall. I was prepared to drag V away from Butch, but the way V looked at me made me stop. His glare was full of hate. My dream man didn't like me, at all. I didn't blame him though. I'd caused him nothing but trouble tonight. I'd followed him like a stalker, gotten him ambushed, gotten him shot once and nearly shot again, not that the shot wound seemed to be bothering him at all. I leaned back against the wall and V concentrated on Butch again. As he put his hand on Butch's stomach, his hand glowed brighter than before, also illuminating the scar on butch. Butch put his hand over V's and then V wrapped his arms around Butch, their touching bodies both starting to glow. I felt a huge pang of jealousy stretch its way through my whole body, watching my dream man with his arms around someone else; even it was a man, felt like a stab in the chest. I had to look away, partly because the brightness was hurting my eyes, but mainly because I couldn't watch them any longer. This went on for a few minutes, although it felt like a few hours. But it came to an end when I heard Butch exhale in relief and I looked back towards them. He looked just as he had when I first saw him come into the alley. V looked alright too, thank god. He was slipping his glove back on his left hand. They were looking at each other, an awkward tension filling the air between them. I looked back and forth and between them a couple of times, before Butch spoke.

"So, what about her?" He said nodding over to me. V looked at me and the sighed as he started walking over to me.

"We'll just erase her memory"

"She's seen a lot tonight, will she be okay?" V shook his head, not making eye contact to me he came closer, until he was right in front of me.

"No, she will be lucky if she doesn't go insane, every time she sees a lesser or just a pale man in general" Butch cursed loud. He was looking at me with a sad expression on his face, which made me worry.

"Shit, V" He rubbed his head "She's Beth's good friend man, I don't want her going insane-"

"We have too" Was all V said and he turned to me "I'll do everything I can to make sure this doesn't affect you long-term" I had no idea what was actually going on.

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked my whole body starting to shake.

"Erase your memory" He replied "You won't remember anything from tonight"

"Nothing at all?"

"No, nothing. If you're smart you'll have dreams about this night, you won't know what they mean. You might start to have small recollections but will get an instant migraine every time you try to remember-"

"No" I cut him off mid-sentence. There was no way I was going to let him erase my memory. I'd just met him, and now I was going to forget him? No way. I started to back away when I bumped into something hard. I spun around to find Butch standing right behind me. I tried to walk around him but he grabbed my arm, not allowing me to go anywhere. I pulled and pulled to try and get away from him but I couldn't escape his strong grip. I tried biting him on the hand but he just cursed and with one tug, pulled me over to him and gripped both of my hands behind my back, flipping me to face V, who was right in front of me now. I struggled as much as I could, making it as difficult as possible for him to do what he was about to do, but it didn't make a difference. Butch gripped me harder, holding me in place, and I gave up and hung my head. Butch's grip softened and it seemed like he was just holding me out of comfort more than anything else.

"It'll be okay" He said quietly into my ear. But it wasn't okay, not in the slightest. I wanted to run away and lock away my memories of tonight in a small box, a box they couldn't get into. Then it started. I knew it had because I felt my mind getting cloudy. Everything that had happened tonight was becoming a blur. I started wondering if any of it had actually happened, or whether it had all been a dream. Confusion was seeping into my thoughts, slapping away all my efforts to keep the memories in my head. For some reason I found myself thinking back to the time when I was eight years old. It was the day when my parents had taken me to the carnival. The carnival came to our city once a year and they had never taken me before. My parents weren't the most affectionate or fun parents, they never liked to do anything with me. I remembered my dad calling me to his study and telling me to get dressed. The car ride had been silent as they always were, with only the sound of the music on the radio playing, while my dad tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, completely out of time, and my mom flipped the pages of a book she would have taken out of the glove compartment. I had no idea where I was being taken until we had come to the entrance of Grover Park and I saw the huge tip of the main tent. It was the first time I'd been to a carnival and I remembered everything about it. The loud excitable screams of the other children running around like headless chickens. The sound of the kettle corn popping had sounded like mini fireworks going off. Gun shots and bells were going off at different stalls, where people were trying their luck on the games. Every stall had its own music, which conflicted with the music from the stalls opposite. The smells of the different foods around the carnival mixed together. That day had been a hot one. I remembered how my mom had taken me into the women's restrooms and covered me with sunscreen. When she was finished she'd done something that I'd never seen her do before. She smiled at me. At first it was just a little, the corners of her mouth turning up only slightly. But then her smile grew and her pale green eyes seemed to light up. The moment had only lasted a few seconds before the smile faded and she rose to her feet, returning to her normal self, but I'd always remembered that smile. It was the first and last time she'd smiled at me.

Suddenly everything changed and I wasn't remembering the carnival anymore. This was a different memory. I was in my parents' car again. But I wasn't eight anymore, I was fifteen. We were on the freeway. My father was angry because I'd gotten bad grades in school that semester. I remembered him scolding me and lecturing me about how I'd never get a good job if I carried on that way and I'd end up on the streets living as a beggar. I remembered my mother sat reading a book as usual, an uncaring look on her face, not giving any insight into the conversation. I felt tears come to my eyes as I pleaded him to stop scolding me and promising I'd do better, but that just made him angrier. His was voice rising, bitter words spewing out of his mouth. I remembered suddenly getting angry myself and telling him to shut up, before covering my ears with my hands. It didn't help; I could still hear that voice of his as loud as thunder. I remembered feeling him grab my arm to pull my hand from my ear. My mother had cut in then, telling him to watch the road. Then the most horrifying thing happened. A coach coming the opposite way lost control. It came swerving towards us, unable to stop; it was going to hit us. My mother started screaming my father's name as it hurdled closer to us. My father let go of me and tried desperately to steer the car out the way, but it was too late. The coach hit us. It hit us with such force that the car started rolling over and over until we hit the barrier of the freeway, but that didn't stop us from tumbling over the side and falling to the ground below. The car hit the ground with a force that crushed it hard. Thankfully we were all still okay, and we would have been okay too, if the coach hadn't come hurdling off the side of the freeway above us, and landing right on top of our car. Suddenly, I felt like I was being electrocuted.


End file.
